Five essential vlogging accessories for beginners

With vlogging becoming an ever more popular medium for videographers, we’ve rounded up some the best vlogging accessories.

There’s a lot of money-making potential in vlogging so many users have top-end equipment to film their videos. But, The Video Mode has compiled up a few options for those just starting to explore the world of vlogging, whether you’re filming on your DSLR or your smartphone.

Vlogging accessories: Tabletop tripod

When setting up your equipment for vlogging, one of the most important things is to make sure you’ll have a steady shot. If you’re sitting down, a simple tabletop tripod should provide you with the steady video you need. There are plenty of low price options out there, as well as the biggest camera companies miniaturising their tripods.

The above image is a GorillaPod, which is one of the most popular versions. Made by Joby, this useful gadget can be manipulated due to it’s malleable legs so you get the best position for your camera. You can buy it on Amazon for £16.95.

Vlogging accessories: External microphone

Getting your sound right is one of the most essential parts of any video making you do. One way to help keep it clear and loud in your social media video is to use an external microphone. Again there are lots of options but one of the most well-known brands is Røde, which offers microphones for all kinds of cameras.

These microphones can help limit the distraction of background noise with clear, directional sound. The fact that they attach right onto your camera also makes it easier to multi-task when there’s just you operating the filming.

You can buy a shotgun mic for your smartphone for £46 or a version for your camera for £55. Make sure you check out the options to see what works for you.

Vlogging accessories: LED Lighting

Lighting is a funny thing in videography as it can either help make your footage look professional, or give away that you’re working on a tight budget. For vloggers, the best idea is to use an on-camera LED light to cut down on the different elements you have to control when filming.

One of new options on the market is the Rotolight NEO 2, which offers adjustable lighting but costs £299, which might be too much for beginner vloggers.

Some simple selfie lights are available for as cheap as £2.69 for smartphone video bloggers. If you need some budget lighting inspiration, check out our guide.

Vlogging accessories: Memory cards

If you’re filming high-quality footage, you’re going to need a decent memory card to store it on. We’ve put together a list of some of the best SD cards on market for all budgets here.

One option is the SanDisk Extreme PRO 64GB Class 10 U3 SD Card, which is on the maket for £36.99. With a Class 10 U3 rating, this card boasts a 95mb/s read and write speed which is more than enough for HD 1080p video that records around 15mb/s and can store up to 7:30 of footage.

Vlogging accessories: Pop-up backgrounds

You can have the best camera, lighting and sound but one distracting thing in your background can render your footage unusable. This is why a number of vloggers tend to use plan backdrops in their videos. These are quite easy to make yourself with spare fabric you have lying around the house.

To make things even easier, however, there are lots of pop-up backgrounds that you can get online. For example, you can buy a double sided screen on Amazon for £29.95.